New Zealand Adventures : A New Zealand Birthday

Since my last post I have had a paper and 3 tests to complete. It was rough, especially because I had 2 of the tests on the same day (Thursday the 23rd), but I made it. After a week of studying and tests it was time to celebrate my birthday with some awesome flatmates and friends on Thursday night. There were 15 of us total at dinner. We went to an Indian restaurant that was BYO (meaning you can bring your own wine bottle there for a small cost) and the food was very good and actually spicy! New Zealanders are not big on spice usually. After a fantastic dinner we went back to my flat for some music and games. It was a lot of fun having so many of my friends over to celebrate my 21st! The next day (my actual birthday) I went to lunch with Cat and then went shopping for our tramping weekend. This was going to be another Girl Weekend out to the Kepler track with Cat, Amy, Alexis and Sarah. We left Dunedin around 4:30pm and stayed overnight in a backpackers in Te Anau, though we had a little trouble finding it once we arrived in the town. Then Saturday morning we were off to tramp up the mountain and stay overnight at Luxmore hut, but not before we all bought matching hats for tramp. The hike was a lot more difficult than the Heaphy - so much steeper. Once out of the tree line, the wind was strong and cold that it knocked me sideways and off the track a couple of times. I made it though, and the views were more than worth the pain I put my body through. In the "hut," which was more a vacation home (without a stove or electricity), we sat my the fireplace and made some dinner of couscous and veggies. After dinner it was time for a well deserved message line. When we exhausted we all went up to the bunkroom and cuddled up in out sleeping backs and had some girl talk. It was pretty cold so the five of us were all up on the top bunk (usually 4 would be up there). Trying to sleep even after a day of hard tramping was not easy when the wind was howling and causing the hut to shake. Then in the morning, we found out the forecast was calling for Snow! And as we were having breakfast that cold Sunday morning it started to fall. As Amy is from Texas, she rarely sees snow and was ecstatic. It turned out to be extremely fun hiking in the snow, for a little while, as it turned to rain as we descended the mountain. Thankfully the rain on this tramp did not cause any 'exciting' river crossings. The drive home was filled with the singing of Disney and Country songs and then stopping for a little chinese food. This was such an amazing weekend and birthday.